Nathan is correct about Russians and foundation. Take a look at this article:

Russian Queens

by Dan Conlon

If you are purchasing Russian queens we have a few recommendations based on last season's study (USDA/SARE grant). Russians are clearly more resistant to mites and disease requiring less intervention and treatment. They can be more difficdult to establish as they are slower to draw comb and buildup when natural food sources are scarce. I have compared packages started with foundation, and on drawn comb. The differences in the rate of growth is dramatic. Russians on drawn comb were, on average, four times the size of those started on foundation by August. Those on comb produced a honey crop, while those on foundation went into winter, needing supplemental feeding. Also there is far greater incidence of swarming when started on foundation (Russians like plenty of comb). With this in mind I recommend the following to Russians.

* Start packages on drawn comb (at least six frames). If you want to use Russians but do not have drawn comb, start with Italians and re-queen in August with a Russian queen. The Italians will do the comb work, and this still allows time for plenty of russian bees to be raised before next winter.

* Use pollen substitute and syrup. This is true for any new package, but essential for Russians. they quickly slow the egg laying in response to perceived storage of forage. They are very efficient in this regard, and tend to produce only the workers they can feed. They also need all the stimulation we can provide to get them to draw comb.

* Provide extra room ahead of their growth. Again this must be drawn comb. Foundation is not useable space to a bee. Only after the foundation is drawn do they consider it useable space. Adding foundation will not deter swarming.

* I will have a written report available in April summarizing our new understanding of managing Russian bees. It should help with practical tips that maximize the advantages of working with these disease and mite resistant bees, and help us over a few of the bumps we encounter, buildup, swarming and introducton.

* About 60% of my colonies are now headed by Russian Queens (pure and hybrid). Once established they are gentle, good producers and are less expensive to mantain. The key is to get them built up, and then you can benefit from their strengths. They are more difficult than Italians to start new colonies on foundation.

From Dan Conlon's Bee Package letter.

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By the rude bridge that arched the floodTheir flag to Aprils breeze unfurledHere once the embattled farmers stoodAnd fired the shot heard round the world-Emerson

The original question still stands.Where would be the best place (price/bee health/location etc.) to get my packages from?Does it make a difference to order from some place close(r) to home (Northern Utah)?

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After 18 months of reading and preparation, my girls finally arrived on April 11th (2006)!

Closer is often advisable given that means that fewer bees will arive dead. As for suppliers, I ordered mine from Spell Bee Co. in GA. I just did a search at http://beesource.com/suppliers/usbees.htm (bee source) and there are no suppliers listed in Utah or any surrounding states. The closest I could find was in California. Here are all the suppliers and information...(coppied from Beesource.com)CaliforniaALLEN'S BEE RANCH19150 Smith LaneRedding, CA. 96002phone: 530-221-1458- italian

Just call Jones Bee Co. in Salt Lake. Olive and her son drive out personally to Kohnen in Glenn Ca and watch them shake the bees. Then they haul them back and you pick them up on Saturday. I picked up 10 packages from them last year and the bees were in pretty good shape. All took off nicely and made a decent crop. You just have to call and get on the list. It's been pleasant to deal with them. As it turns out, they knew B Wenner and the Kohnens that were dealing in bees in Glenn when I was a kid. Jones brought in over 1400 packages in 3 trips last year.

As far as the type of bees, they have Italians and NWC. Not to start up some long discussion, but Italians were the bees of choice for a long time. They are USUALLY calm, readily build comb, and are a good bee to start with. They build up large colonys, so ensuring they have plenty of stores come winter is important. Throw a pollen patty on them in late Feb early March, and they will go to town on the fruit and dandylion bloom.

I say again, they make big colonys and consequently are big eaters. Some people don't like them for this reason, but I like the predictability.

There are two problems with ordering packages. If they are mailed the condition is very upredictable. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not. So it's nice if you can pick them up somewhere. Here I get them from the local bee store that has them trucked in. Second, many suppliers have problems supplying them even when you have an order in very early (as in December or January). So its nice to not have all your eggs in one basket. If you have a package ordered from two different places the odds of getting at least one improve.

> don't know...I ordered from Spell Bee Co. in June just 8 days before delivery. I hadn't reserved any packages or anything. I don't think packages are that unreliable.

I've ordered packages off and on over the last 31 years. Sometimes they are on time. Sometimes they are a month late. Sometimes they arrive dead. Sometimes they arrive in great shape. Somtimes they never arrive at all.

I'm only trying to help. It's really dissapointing to get your heart set on having bees and yours are postponed and postponed until it's too late to get them anywhere else.

Yep. They get their bees from Kohnen. They also run a bee club with members at all levels of experience. Pretty interesting on pick up day. People from all over the state lined up to get their bees, and all talking bee stuff. I usually hate to stand in line, but for once I didn't mind it.